Montgomery on the Ducks

Cal coach Mike Montgomery was asked, on the Pac-10 teleconference Tuesday morning, whether he has to be concerned about his team’s approach to playing Oregon, given that the Ducks are winless in the Pac-10 at 0-13.

“Well, you know, kids are funny,” Montgomery said. “That’s always an issue. I think Oregon’s not bad. I mean, they’ve been close in a lot of games. And we’re also at a point where wins are going to be hard to come by right now. We’ve got six games left, and we’re close to where we want to be, but we’re not there. So I don’t know…. It’s a good question. I know if we don’t come out … because our margin of error is not very great. We were down 22 to Stanford at home for goodness sake. So we can be not very good if we’re not mentally there and not playing hard. We had a tough game with them here; we shot 60-some percent and won by seven. But kids are funny. They read and you say ‘well, this and that.” It’s a concern. I don’t know what the answer is. I just know that if we don’t come out with a real good effort that we’re going to get ourselves in trouble.”

In January, Cal defeated Oregon 76-69 in Berkeley. The Bears shot .667 for the game, and .737 in the second; Oregon was led by Tajuan Porter with 26 points, and got nine from center Michael Dunigan, who was 7-of-8 from the free throw line.

So does Oregon do anything that would worry Cal?

“They do lots of stuff,” Montgomery said. “They came after us inside last time and got us in foul trouble a little bit. They attacked inside to the big fella and he did well. And little Porter, he’s going to get a shot when he wants to get a shot, and at the end of game kept making baskets. He’s hard to stop, he’s so quick and he gets himself ready to shoot and he’s got unlimited range. And obviously, like most people, I think Oregon’s better at home. I know he (Porter) had 33 last game (at Washington) and we can’t afford to have anybody have that kind of night. Their pace at home is faster and they’ve got some people who can shoot the ball.”